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Recent Stories / October 31, 2005

Week of October 31, 2005

November 4, 2005

Union Wins And Losses
City teachers voted to approve the deal recently reached between their union and the city yesterday. The vote, decided by less than a two to one margin, was much closer than union officials expected, and some teachers remain unhappy about the concessions they were asked to make. The city also reached a tentative deal with police detectives union, in which detectives will get a 17 percent raise, but will move up the pay scale more slowly and work slightly longer work days.

November 3, 2005

Airport Upgrades
The Federal Aviation Administration will install new ground aircraft detection systems at the three airports in the New York area. The decision follows a series of near-collisions on runways, including one at Kennedy International Airport last summer in which the controllers' radar system was blinded by rain. The new technology will be able to locate and identify planes on the runway in any weather.

Radio City Walkout
The night before the opening of the annual "Radio City Christmas Spectacular," the music hall's 35-piece orchestra walked out of contract negotiations. The union, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, decided to strike because Cablevision, which operates Radio City, is refusing to pay overtime. The theater's owners said that the Christmas Spectacular will go on with a recorded musical score.

November 2, 2005

The Final Debate
One week before Election Day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fernando Ferrer met last night for the second time in a final hour-long debate. Bloomberg attempted to portray Ferrer as a �whiner� with no real solutions to the city�s problems, while Ferrer tried to link the mayor to President George W. Bush and criticized Bloomberg for not doing more to provide affordable housing and address the dropout rate in city schools.

The debate featured some policy differences, with Bloomberg boosting the Atlantic Yards project as good for creating jobs and �spirit� in Brooklyn; Ferrer called it a �boondoggle.� Ferrer repeated his criticism that the city is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Bloomberg pointed to his efforts to create jobs and build housing, but said, "This is an expensive city." And the two disagreed over the magnitude of the city�s high-school dropout rate and who could better fix it. One of the sharpest differences arose over an issue a mayor can do little about: the war in Iraq. Ferrer said the U.S. should bring its troops back "as promptly as possible, " but Bloomberg said bringing the troops home now would mean that those killed in Iraq would have "died in vain."

For a transcript, go to Gotham Gazette. For more, go to Campaign 2005.

November 1, 2005

Subway Safety vs. Civil Liberty
Three months after the New York Police Department began random searches of bags and packages at subway entrances, a trial began yesterday to adjudicate the claim by the New York Civil Liberties Union that the practice violates the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against illegal searches and seizures.

In related news, to help subway riders escape in the event of fire or attack, the Daily News reports that the Transit Authority will install panic bars, "similar to those on emergency-exit doors in movie theaters,” on gates in every subway station.
For details on these stories, go to the transportation topic page links in the news.


Final Debate
The last mayoral debate, between Michael Bloomberg and Fernando Ferrer, occurs at 7 p.m. tonight on Channel 4. For a transcript of their first debate last Sunday morning, go here

October 31, 2005

Mayoral Debate
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Democratic rival Fernando Ferrer faced off in person Sunday for the first time in the campaign. During the hour long televised debate, Ferrer criticized Bloomberg over his ties to the national Republican Party, his huge campaign spending and his priorities, which Ferrer said, favored the rich over the poor. Bloomberg, on the other hand, stuck to a recitation of his record and plans for the future and argued that he had made tough, politically unpopular choices that ultimately steered the city's resurgence after the devastation of the Sept. 11 attack.

For more information, go to Campaign 2005

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